It is common for a fleet of devices to be deployed in a workflow environment. In some settings, a fleet of devices may be deployed across a large enterprise, which may include numerous workflow environments and/or numerous devices within a given workflow environment. Managing a large fleet of devices presents several challenges which are addressed by the present disclosure.
For instance, there are numerous examples of workflow environments which require outputs that meet a certain level of quality, productivity, and/or cost-efficiency. The quality of outputs from a given device can be managed to some degree by periodically sampling outputs and testing the samples for various quality parameters, and then taking appropriate action when the test results indicate an issue with output quality. However, in some settings, quality issues may go undetected for some time and/or quality issues may be unanticipated, for example, when outputs are only periodically sampled for quality testing. Quality issues that go undetected may lead to further undesirable outcomes, such as unsalable or unusable outputs, rework, downtime for devices, customer complaints, and the like. In some situations, an issue with output quality may require downtime for a workflow device until the issue has been resolved. Further, quality issues that are unanticipated may lead to delayed responses. Delays in detecting and responding to output quality, as well as downtime for a workflow device, tend to directly impact the uptime and productivity, and correspondingly the operating costs and profitability, of a device, a workflow environment, and/or an enterprise. It would therefore be advantageous to provide improved methods for managing output quality for a device or fleet of devices, including detecting or predicting quality issues, managing undesirable outcomes from quality issues, and timely responding to quality issues.
As another example, a multitude of factors may cause the time when maintenance or service is required for a given device to vary as between different devices and/or as between different workflow environments. In some situations, maintenance or service requirements for devices may go undetected for some time and/or such requirements may be unanticipated. If a device goes too long without maintenance or service, the device may experience a failure or performance or quality issues may arise; but on the other hand, if maintenance or service is performed too frequently, costs will be incurred that may otherwise have been avoidable. Likewise, a device failure may occur unexpectedly, and eventually a device will reach the end of its useful life. It would therefore be advantageous to provide improved methods for managing maintenance or service, for responding to failures, and for managing useful life, of a device or fleet of devices, including managing maintenance or service schedules, detecting or predicting maintenance or service issues, and timely responding to such issues.
As another example, in some situations, a given output may be producible with any one or more different devices. Similarly, in some situations, a given device may be configurable with any one or more different configurations. Such configurations may include a selection of component parts, consumables, and settings for the device. Operations of an enterprise, a workflow environment, or a given device may be affected by the selection of a device and/or by the selection of a configuration for a device. For example, such sections may impact output quality, maintenance or service requirements, uptime, productivity, and/or operating costs, of a device, a workflow environment, and/or an enterprise. However, in some situations a multitude of factors may be relevant, and/or the relevance of various factors or the significance of various factors may vary as between different devices and/or as between different workflow environments. Furthermore, in some situations, various performance objectives may be inversely proportional to one another (e.g., quality vs. cost, quality vs. productivity, productivity vs. cost), such that tradeoffs between competing objectives may exist. It would therefore be advantageous to provide improved methods for managing the selection of devices and/or device configurations, including managing performance objectives, and deployment of devices and/or device configurations into workflow environments, and assignment of jobs to various devices.
These issues are especially magnified when managing an enterprise that utilizes a large number of workflow devices and/or multiple workflow environments. It would therefore be advantageous to provide improved systems and methods for managing a large fleet of devices, in particular but without limitation, fleets of devices across an enterprise having multiple workflow environments.
The present disclosure seeks to address the foregoing shortcomings and needs, for example, by providing systems and methods that utilize devices having a verification system which allows for improved monitoring of output parameters, which output parameters may then be utilized in the systems and methods for managing fleets of devices disclosed herein, including, without limitation, systems and methods for managing performance objectives, systems and methods for managing maintenance and service requirements, systems and methods for managing the selection of devices device configurations, and/or systems and methods for deploying or introducing devices into workflow environments.
In addition to output quality, there are numerous examples of workflow environments which require a high level of uptime or productivity. As such it would be desirable to enhance the uptime or productivity of a device or a fleet of devices in a workflow environment by providing one or more standby devices, which can be introduced into the workflow environment when a workflow device experiences a failure, a quality issue, or otherwise removed from service for some reason. Similarly, it would be desirable to enhance uptime or productivity by providing one or more standby devices which can be introduced into the workflow environment in connection with improved methods for managing the selection of devices and/or device configurations, for example, but without limitation, in connection with managing performance objectives.
When introducing a standby device into a workflow environment in place of a workflow device, generally the standby device may require firmware, software, applications, and/or settings identical to or compatible with the workflow device being replaced. In some situations, a fleet of devices may comprise several workflow devices having various different configurations, including different firmware, software, applications, and/or settings. For example, different configurations may be desirable to configure devices for various different jobs or users. Additionally, in some situations different configurations may be required as between differing device models in order to configure each of them to perform a given job in a workflow environment, and/or different configurations may be desirable for managing performance objectives.
In some workflow environments, there may be a large number of workflow devices that need to be managed, and some enterprises may encompass multiple workflow environments. Accordingly, some workflow environments may have multiple different devices with multiple different configurations. Such multiple different devices and/or multiple different configurations may require various differing combinations of firmware, software, applications, and/or settings, which may become burdensome to manage. Oftentimes, it would be impractical to maintain a separate standby device for each different workflow device or for each different configuration. For example, it may be cost prohibitive to maintain a large number of standby devices. Instead, it would be desirable to maintain an optimally small number of standby devices, preferably having a given standby device configurable to perform various different jobs corresponding to several different workflow devices and/or configurable according to different factors that may be relevant for managing performance objectives.
A technically proficient support staff generally has been required to setup and maintain device networks in which a server manages a fleet of devices. A technically proficient support staff also generally has been required to configure devices with appropriate firmware, software, applications, and settings and to keep the various firmware, software, applications, and settings information organized and up to date. Even with a server-managed workflow environment, configuration information tends to become mixed up or lost, especially when managing a large number of devices and/or a large number of different configurations. Furthermore, the time required to configure a standby device (e.g., replicate a workflow device on a standby device) and then introduce the standby device into a workflow environment is another issue which tends to directly impact uptime or productivity, and correspondingly operating costs and profitability, of the workflow environment. These issues may be magnified when support staff cannot promptly respond to a service request, resulting in extended downtime.
In view of the foregoing, there further exists a need to provide improved systems and methods for managing a fleet of devices, in particular but without limitation, systems and methods for configuring a standby device and introducing the standby device into a workflow environment. The present disclosure seeks to address the foregoing shortcomings and needs, for example, by providing systems and methods that allow ordinary users to manage a fleet of devices without requiring much knowledge or skill pertaining to information technology.
Optionally, in some embodiments, the systems and methods in the present disclosure may be performed without requiring a server to manage the devices in the workflow environment, thereby offsetting costs associated with network hardware, software, and/or support staff. Additionally, these systems and methods allow for an optimally small number of standby devices in a workflow environment, preferably with a given standby device being capable of replicating multiple different workflow devices, and/or multiple workflow devices with different configurations from one another. The present disclosure additionally addresses these shortcomings and needs by providing improved systems and methods for replicating a workflow device on a standby device and methods for performing jobs in a workflow environment.